The Young and the Netless.

According to recent survey results, if you are 30 or younger, connectivity, and the flexibility it provides. hold increasing importance in the workplace. According to a the 2011 Cisco Connected World Technology Report, young people consider the Internet to be as important as air, water, food and shelter2. With these results, I wouldn’t be surprised to find the Internet on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs by 2020.
The findings should not suprise anyone who has interacted with our younger workers and college students. This is a group that has never known a life without email, texting, and surfing the net for all manner of information. College life consisted of doing research from the comfort of a dorm room rather than heading to the library at all hours. Those who took online courses never even needed to see the inside of a classroom. They now take their mobile devices to parks, coffee shops, and restaurants to get their work done. Check out a Panera on a Sunday night to find all manner of students and young workers completing projects over a sandwich and pastry while accessing free WiFi. Young people collaborate online, access banks and government agencies at will, and shop websites 24x7 making the work-day an intangible concept. They search for jobs online, study company websites, and may even have interviewed over Skype.

The days of an 8-5 work schedule in which co-workers are left behind are becoming more rare. Work and life are now intermingled together. Seventy percent of young workers responded that they have friended  co-workers or a manager on Facebook, blending their personal and private lives in a way previously unknown. With access to private photos, check-ins, and status updates, co-workers have a new awareness of the personal lives of office-mates. And with the ability to work anywhere a device can go, the “work-place” itself is redefined as a global concept.

In fact, mobility and connectivity has become such an everyday occurrence that young workers can’t imagine a workplace that doesn’t give them the flexibility that technology has already brought to their lives. Thirty-three percent of young workers said they would prioritize social media access, device flexibility and work mobility over better pay3. Almost half of those surveyed indicated that they would turn down a job that banned access to social media (or find a way around it)3.

But before you get ideas about storming the castle with demands of iPad freedom and logging in from your corner café; be prepared to face some harsh realities. For employers, the new connectivity is causing problems. The lax attitude toward device use results in some risky behavior among young workers. More than half of the employees surveyed globally (56%) said they have allowed others to use their computers without supervision – family, friends, coworkers, and even people they do not know. Sixty one percent believe they are not responsible for protecting information and devices, believing instead that it is IT’s job1.
While the need to recruit young employees means companies will be reexamining long-held policies about access, telecommuting and work hours, you should be cautious about making it an issue in your own interview. In a time of deep recession in which young people are being hit hardest by layoffs, you should emphasize your willingness to be flexible to their needs and rules. And worrying about when and how you can jump on Facebook should never come up.



1 http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/ns341/ns525/ns537/ns705/ns1120/2011-CCWTR-Chapter-3-Press-Release.pdf

2 http://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=474852

3http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/ns341/ns525/ns537/ns705/ns1120/cisco_connected_world_technology_report_chapter2_press_release.pdf